Photo: Captain Sabri Shadi in his opening speech during the ceremony

Afriqiyah Airways' long awaited delivery of Airbus A330 took place last week. The handing over ceremony of the aircraft from the Airbus officials to Afriqiyah Airways was held at the premises of Maitiga Airport. Libyan and Airbus officials attended the ceremony.

In his opening speech during the ceremony, Captain Sabri Shadi, the CEO of the Libyan-African Aviation Holding Company attributed the successful delivery of the airbus A330 to the Libyan banks for their courageous financial support in buying the contracted twenty three aircraft. He said by doing so, the Libyan banks have entered the era of financing strategic projects in Libya, a venture that the government banks didn't undertake before.

Afriqiyah Airways considers the delivery of Airbus A330 as a major step forward not only to the company's operation of long haul routes but also to the history of Libya's aviation since it is the first aircraft of its kind to be delivered in Libya.

"This is the first kind of this aircraft to be delivered to Afriqiyah Airways. We ordered three of them and we will receive the second one end of September and the third one end of October. We will also receive other three A319, smaller than the A330 on the18th of August," said Eng. Rammah Ettir, the CEO of Afriqiyah Airways.

"This new aircraft will place Afriqiyah Airways in the global market of aviation. We want to come out of short medium range, small airline operation. We definitely look forward to operate long haul flights as a pioneer airline and else a class beyond.

The same thing we offer in the economy class can only be found in the business class of other airlines and the same thing we provide in the business class, can only be found in the first class of other airlines," said Mr. Muhammed ElMeshkhi Afriqiyah's Director of the Public and International Relations Department.

The new Airbus A330 has a capacity of 230 passengers, thirty in the business class and the remaining two hundred in the economy class with more cargo capacity. The aircraft also can fly 6000 nautical miles and has with it stretcher facilities for the sick ones and special toilets for people with disabilities.

"This is a long range aircraft, wide body with very luxurious two cabins, one for the business class, very comfortable, high end very close to the first class where the seats can be fully extended to a bed of 180 degrees, with separate reading lights, separate electrical power supply for PC, separate 12.1 TV screen where you can watch your own selection of video games and program," explained Eng. Rammah Ettir and added, "The economy class is also a very relaxed.

It is a 32 inch each between seats, fully reclinable to 8 inch, each with 9.6 inch screen."

Eng. Ettir also revealed that, the new aircraft will start its operations in a week's time after concluding the official formalities with the Civil Aviation Authority.

The first six weeks the aircraft will start with short routes like London, Paris, Lagos and Accra. Then on the 19th of September, the aircraft will begin operating long haul routes among them Johannesburg, Manila, Pekin and Dakar.

"We will start with two flights in a week to Johannesburg, and we will increase if there is a market demand. But definitely South Africa will be connected through Tripoli to Europe, Middle East and south East Asia and this will decrease some fatigue and long time spending while waiting for flights," confirmed ElMeshkhi to the Tripoli Post.

Afriqiyah Airways is also improving its cabin services with new menus, new programs, new faces of the crew members who have gone through a rigorous training in order to bringing their standards to the required level. All these efforts are geared at satisfying the customers' needs.

Considering Libya's strategic location, many airline stakeholders look forward to the prospects of Libya's aviation with the finishing of the new Tripoli International Airport come the year 2010.

"Tripoli as a hub, is doing a phenomenon growth and with the opening of the new terminal that will give the capability of 20 million people terminal bear that will give the capacity for Libya to develop as an international hub, basically taking passengers from all around Africa and then sending them to Europe, Middle East, Asia.

So there is a lot of potential for development. There are a lot of potential for airlines to develop their markets here and so we see Afriqiyah is on the right track," remarked Francois Cognard, Vice President Sales-North Africa, Airbus Middle East.

Cognard also hailed a good business relationship that prevails between Afriqiyah Airways and the Airbus Company.

Afriqiyah Airways, a Libyan airline established in 2001 designed to link Africa with regional and long haul routes and connecting Africa with Europe, the Middle East and Asia, does not only aim to expand but also to provide its best available services to an increasing number of customers.

Story by Aboubakar Famau